Automatic dumping apparatus.



No. 640,952. Patnted Ian. 9. I900. J. R. nosmsou,

AUTOMATIC DUMPING APPARATUS.

(Application filed July 6, 1899.)

No. 640,952. Patented Ian. 9, I900. J. R. ROBINSON.

AUTOMATIC DUMPING APPARATUS.

(Application filed July 6, 1899.) (No Model.) '2 Sheots-$heet 2.

tlln i'rnn STATES PATENT AUTOMATIC DUIVIPING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 640,952, dated January9, 1900. Application filed July 6,1899. Serial No- 722,956. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES R. ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Monongahela, in the county of WVashington and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Automatic DumpingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in an automatic dumping apparatusespecially adapted for use in mine-shafts for unloading a car which maybe hoisted through the shaft; but the principle of the invention may beavailed of in other relations where it is desirable to automaticallydump a car or receptacle for the purpose of unloading the contentsthereof.

One of the leading features of my invention is the provision of a cagearranged to automatically tilt a car or its equivalent into adischarge-chute before the car is emptied of its contents, thusovercoming the tendency of the load to fall or spill down themine-shaft.

A further object of the invention is to arrange the parts for service ina manner to utilize a part of the weight of the load and the car formoving the latter to its dumping position, thus minimizing theexpenditure of the power required to unload the car.

With these ends in View the invention consists in the novel combinationof elements and in the construction and arrangement of the parts forservice, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand the invention, I have illustrated apreferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, and in which- Figure l is an elevation of myimproved dumping-cage, representing the same in operative relation tothe framing of a mine-shaft and carrying a car which is to beautomatically dumped by engagement with an eccentric guide when the cagereaches the place of discharge. Fig. 2 is an elevation at right an glesto Fig. '1 and showing the cage-frame guided slidably by parts of theframing of the mine-shaft. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation ofthe cage, representing the platform and the car thereon in their dumpingpositions for automatically unloading the car. Fig. 4 is a detailperspective view of my improved dumping-cage removed from the fram ingof the mine-shaft.

The same numerals of reference are used to indicate like andcorresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

The dumping-cage of myinvention is indicated in its entirety by thenumeral 10, reference being had more particularly to Fig. 4. of thedrawings, said cage adapted to bodily carry a loaded car or itsequivalent. This cage consists of a tiltable platform 11, thecarrying-frame 12, a pair of short arms 13, and another pair of longarms 14, said pairs of arms adapted to pivotally connect the platformwith the cage-frame for the purpose of imparting a swinging movement inan upward direction to the platform and the load thereon when the cagereaches the point where the load is to be discharged automatically.

The platform 11 is fastened to a pair of side bars 15 of angle-ironconstruction and arranged at opposite edges of the platform to lieparallel to each other, and this platform carries the track-rails 16, onwhich may rest the loaded mine-car, as shown by Fig. 1. The metallicside bars 15 of the tiltable platform support the cross shafts or rods17, arranged transversely near the opposite ends of said platform, saidshafts or rods having the upper ends of the arms 13 14 sleeved looselythereon.

The frame 12 of the dumping-cage consists of the head-rail 18, a pair ofbottom rails 19 20, and the upright connecting rods or braces 21 22. Thebottom rails 19 20 are preferably of channeled bar metal and arrangedparallel with each other below the tiltable platform. The head-rail 18is preferably of metal, and it is arranged centrally with relation tothe cage and at right angles to the bottom rails 19 20, so as to spanthe platform, while allowing ample space for the platform and its loadto assume the inclined or dumping position. The connecting-rods 21 22are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the cage, each pair of rodshaving its members diverging from the head-rail 18 toward the ends ofone bottom rail 19 or 20, said ends of the connecting-rods beingfastened firmly to the rails of the cage-frame in any approved manner.

The bottom rails of the cage-fra me support the cross-shafts 23,whichare suitably mount ed in said rails, and these cross-shafts have thelower ends of the arms 13 14 sleeved loosely thereon. In thisspecification I have described that the cross shafts 17 21 are mountedon the platform and the cage-fram e, respectively, in fixed positionsand that the links or arms 13 14 are sleeved at their respective ends onsaid shafts. As an equivalent for this construction it is evident thatthe cross-rods may be mounted to rock or turn in bearings on theplatform and cageframe,respectively, and that the links or arms may bemade fast with said shafts.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings it will be noted that thearms 14 are considerably longer than the arms 13. The tiltable platform11 is adapted to assume ahorizontal position parallel with the bottomrails 19 of the cage-frame during the vertical travel of the cagethrough the mine-shaft, and in this horizontal position of the platformthe long links or arms 14 are adapted to assume the inclined positionsshown by Figs. 1 and 4, while the short links or arms 13 occupy asubstantially vertical position. To sustain the end of the platform towhich the long links are connected, Iemploy a rest-frame 26, which isfixed to the bottom rails 19 20 of the cage-platform to occupy aposition at right angles to said rails, said rest-frame being stayed inplace by the inclined struts 27.

The cage of my invention is adapted to travel through the mine-shaft ina vertical direction, and to prevent this cage from swaying I haveprovided the cage-frame 12 with guides adapted to slidably embracesuitable guide posts or ways of the framing in the mine-shaft. Theseguides may be of any suitable construction known to those skilled in theart; but in the exemplification of the cage represented by theaccompanying drawings the guides 24 24 are attached to the ends of thehead-rail 18 and the guides 25 25 are fastened to the middle of thebottom rails 19 20, respectively. Each guide is preferably substantiallyU-shaped, so as to present the appearance of a clip, and the guide 24 onone side of the cage, at the top thereof, is in vertical alinement withthe guide 25 on the same side of the cage, at the lower end thereof.

That end of the platform to which the short links 13 are pivoted carriesa roller 28, which extends from the side of the platform and is looselyjournaled on an axle 29, that is fixed to the platform in any suitableway. For the attachment of the elevating chain or cable I have shown thehead-rail18 of the cageframe as equipped with a series of eyebolts 30.The elevating chain or cable 31 has a series of stay-chains 32 connectedthereto, said stay-chains being attached to the eyebolts on thehead-rail of the cage-frame.

A part of the framing 33 ordinarily employed in a mine-shaft isrepresented by Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, said framing having the guideposts or ways 34, which are embraced by the guides 24 25 of thecage-frame, whereby the cage is caused to travel in a perpendicular pathon its ascent or descent in a mineshaft, and the cage is not onlyprevented from swaying, but it is also restrained from tilting with theplatform in unloading the car thereon by its engagement with the postsor ways 34.

The framing 33 in the mine-shaft carries an eccentric guide 35, which isfixed to the framing, so as to lie in the path of the roller 28, and issituated at the place where it is desired to discharge the load from thecage. This eccentric guide. is shown by Fig. 1 as consisting of a pairof curved plates, which are bolted to the frame and arranged in suchrelation one to the other as to form an intermediate channel 36, whichis open at its ends to form the throats 37. (See Fig. 1.)

An ordinary mining-car 38 of any suitable construction'is shown asresting on the rails of the platform in Fig. 1 and in its dumpingposition in Fig- 3.

The operation is as follows: When the cage is lowered to the bottom ofthe mine-shaft, the short arms 13 assume a vertical position, the longarms 14 are inclined, and the platform 11 is in a horizontal position,with one end resting on the short frame 26, while its other end issupported by the vertical short arms 13. A loaded mine-car, as 38, isrun from the tracks in the bottom of the mine onto the track of thehorizontal tiltable platform 11, said car being locked or held againstmovement on the platform by any suitable means. During the elevation ofthe cage the platform and car remain in their horizontal positions,whilethe cage is restrained against swaying by the engagement of theguide-clips 24 25 with the posts or ways 34. As the cage approaches theplace of discharge the rollers 28 enter the throat 37 of the eccentricguide 35, and as the cage continues to ascend the eccentric guide drawsthe tiltable platform to one side or gives an endwise movement theretoin the direction of the arrow sh own byFig. 3, thereby turning the linksor arms on their pivotal connections with the platform and thecage-frame, respectively. By reason of the difference in the lengths ofthe arms 13 14 and the engagement of the rollers on the platform withthe eccentric guides the front end of the platform is swung in adownward and forward direction, while the rear end of the platform ismoved in an upward and forward direction, such upward movement being dueto the long links 14 assuming the substantially vertical position shownby Fig. 3. This operation of the eccentric guide on the platform and thedropping of the short links with the simultaneous elevation of the longlinks makes the platform 11 assume the tilted dumping position shown byFig. 3, and the car 38v partakes of the tilting movement of theplatform, whereby the car is placed in the ordinary discharge-chutebefore any of its contents are dumped, and hence the load is not spilledin the mine-shaft. It is also to be observed that the short links permitone end of the platform to drop, while the long links raise the otherend of the platform in a manner to utilize some of the Weight of theload and car for completing the movement of the platform to its dumpingposition, thus reducing the power required for operating the automaticdump. On the descent of the cage the eccentric guide and roller coact torestore the platform to its horizontal position, the frame 26 supportingthe rear end of the platform,whi1e the short links 13 sustain the frontend thereof.

Changes may be made in the form and proportion of some of the partswhile their essential features are retained and the spirit of theinvention embodied. Hence I do not desire to be limited to the preciseform of all the parts as shown, reserving the right to vary therefrom.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- In an automaticdumping-hoist, the combination of a vertically-traveling cage having thebottom rails and the central head-rail united together by intermediaterods and also provided on said head-rail and the bottom rails With theguides which, on each side of the cage, are vertically alined, arest-frame secured to the bottom cage-rails and connected together by across-rail, a tiltable platform, shafts supported on the platform andthe bottom rails of said cage, the short links sleeved on the shaftsnear one end of the cage and the platform, the long links sleeved on theshaft near the other end of the platform and the middle of the cage, therollers mounted on the platform near the points where the short linksare pivoted thereto, the uprights or posts fitting in the cage-guides,and the curved guides fixed in the path of the rollers on said cage,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES R. ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. LINN, EUGENE H. FOULKE.

